Wodonga security guard Patrick Finlayson jailed

2 Sep 2014, midnight

WODONGA man worked as a guard without proper licensing.

A WODONGA man who worked as a security guard at many locations throughout the region without an appropriate licence was yesterday jailed for two months after side-stepping questions about whether he would adhere to the conditions of a bond.

Patrick Michael Finlayson, 44, was convicted in his absence on August 8 on two charges of doing security work without a licence.

He stormed from court during a defended hearing and magistrate Megan Greenwood deferred the case until yesterday for sentencing.

Finlayson sought to have the charges dismissed and argued the prosecution “did not have an injured party”.

He later sent a written notice to the court saying it had no jurisdiction in the matter.

Ms Greenwood told Finlayson yesterday that she intended putting him on a bond if he would abide by the conditions of it.

“Read the notice,” Finlayson said in response.

Ms Greenwood asked Finlayson what his reaction would be if she imposed a two-year bond to abide by certain conditions.

“It’s in the notice,” he said.

Ms Greenwood said Finlayson’s offending was serious, as security officers played an important role in the community.

She said Finlayson had a licence, had it taken from him and was told in person.

“You then proceeded to flagrantly breach the law,” Ms Greenwood said.

“I would have fined you and placed you on a good behaviour bond today.”

But Ms Greenwood said Finlayson made it clear he did not accept the jurisdiction of the court and left her with no choice.

He was given a two-month jail sentence for the first offence and a concurrent one-month term for the other matter.

The court was previously told in police facts that Finlayson got his NSW security licence on September 21, 2009, but was served with a notice revoking it on December 8.

Two days later, he was contacted by phone and asked to attend the police station to hand in his licence, but he did not do so.

The Security Licensing Enforcement Directorate received letters on January 6 and 14 from Finlayson seeking an internal review of his licence.

A statement of reasons confirming the original decision was sent in a letter to Finlayson on January 15.

Ms Greenwood said Finlayson had 61 separate breaches of the ban on the first charge and 30 breaches on the second.